The prognostic value of adding systemic inflammation response index to <scp>Epstein–Barr</scp> virus <scp>DNA</scp> in childhood nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A real‐world study

To assess the prognostic value of the systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) combined with plasma load of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in children and adolescents with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (CALANPC).A total of 205 consecutive patients with CALANPC were enrolled. We used recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) to classify patients into various risk groups, with a primary endpoint of overall survival (OS).Elevated SIRI (≥1.53) and EBV DNA (≥4000 copy/ml) were significantly associated with inferior OS in CALANPC. RPA categorized patients into low- and high-risk groups based on prognostic factors. Survival curves showed excellent discrimination in OS (95.3% vs 77.6%; p < 0.001) between the low- and high-risk groups. A significant improvement was confirmed using the prognostic methods for conventional TNM staging systems (p < 0.05).The combination of SIRI with EBV DNA provided a more detailed understanding of patient risks, and enhanced risk discrimination in CALANPC.